Meet Hurricane Hazel, Our Legendary Crab Picker

If you have ever been to one of our Crab & Cruise® events in Crisfield, you have probably seen it. A crowd gathers around one table, everyone leaning in, watching a pair of hands move faster than seems possible. Steamed blue crabs go in, clean lump meat comes out, and it happens so quickly you almost miss it.

That is Hazel Cropper. Around here, everyone calls her Hurricane Hazel.

Seventy-nine years at the picking table

Hazel is 88 years old, and she has been picking crabs since she was 9. Her grandmother taught her right here in Crisfield, at a table not far from the water, and nearly eight decades later those hands have not slowed down one bit. When people say someone was born to do something, this is what they mean.

She is a 16-time champion at the National Hard Crab Derby, Crisfield's crab-picking world championship. She holds a world record for picking five pounds of crab meat in about 20 minutes, a number that stops people cold when they hear it and stops them again when they watch her do it. There is a mural of her in Crisfield and a salt box named for her up in Baltimore. She is, without exaggeration, a legend of the Eastern Shore.

The best seat at Crab & Cruise®

Hazel has been part of Crab & Cruise® since the very first one, 21 years ago. Every summer she sits down at her table and shows guests how to pick like a pro, and every summer people travel a long way just for that seat up front. She will hand you a crab, walk you through it, and make it look easy, which it is not. More than a demonstration, it is a piece of Crisfield you get to be part of for an afternoon.

She is also a good friend of our family, and that is really the heart of it. Twenty-one years of summers, and she has been there for all of them.

The good Lord blessed my hands, and as long as He's with me, I'm gonna keep doing what I love.Hurricane Hazel

The day the governor came by

Last fall, Maryland Governor Wes Moore stopped by our event venue to meet her. Hazel did what Hazel does. She sat him down, picked a full pound of crab meat right in front of him, and sent him home to Annapolis with it. He got the same demonstration everyone gets, and the same warm welcome, because that is how she treats every single person who pulls up a chair.

See Hurricane Hazel in action

Words do not really do it justice, so watch for yourself. Here she is getting introduced at Crab & Cruise®.

And here is the day the legendary Hazel entertained the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Come see her for yourself

From May through October, Hazel gives her crab-picking demonstrations at our Crab & Cruise® events at The Crab Place in Crisfield. If you want to learn from the best, check the event schedule, grab a ticket, and come say hello. These are ticketed event days, so you cannot just walk in, but they are worth planning a trip around. And if you cannot make it in person, the next best thing is a proper Maryland crab feast at your own table, picked the way Hazel taught half the Shore to do it.

Some things you cannot rush, and some people you do not replace. We are lucky to have had Hurricane Hazel with us for 21 years, and we hope for many more.